The 12 Favorite Airs (or Arias)
arranged by Elias Parish Alvars were published (by Ricordi
of Milan) in 1843 and present an interesting — and rare — example
of his pedagogic mindset. The tunes he used must have been so well
known that he didn’t need to identify them. Presented in progressive
order, they deliver attractive learning tools, technically and stylistically,
and countless pleasures to the ear and the heart.

Steeped in the bel canto culture of his
time, Parish Alvars had already composed several Fantasias, Divertissements
or Souvenirs on famous operas by Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini, with
more to follow by Donizetti, Mercadante and Verdi.
His Grand Fantasia on Rossini’s Moïse, published
just before the Airs, represented a great milestone in his development
as a composer and was recognized as an equal to pianist Sigismond Thalberg’s
famous composition on the same subject.

How did such a powerful interpreter, the “sorcerer” who “magnetized” Berlioz
with his technical feats, adapt his formidable skills to the smaller
format required for beginning and intermediate levels? He reduced the
texture of these miniatures to the basics, at first using bare bone thirds,
sixths and octaves (as in Nos. 1-2-4). without ever sacrificing the irrepressible
character of the melodies. As the difficulty level increases, the accompaniment
moves from predictable “Alberti bass” patterns to more complex
running figures demanding the performer’s constant vigilance.

In a later edition published by Ashdown and Parry
(Hanover Square. London), Nos. 2 and 4 are attributed to Bochsa, whereas
No. 3 is ascribed to Meyerbeer as Nel silenzio (fra l’orror), a
chorus from the opera Il Crociato in Egitto (1824) that is known
to have been also arranged for piano by Parish Alvars’ contemporaries
Thalberg and Henri Herz.

No. 7 offers an attractive reading of Nel
cor più non mi sento, an aria from Paisiello’s 1788
opera L’amor contrastato ossia la Molinara, which became
so well-loved in Germany that it was turned into an honorary folksong
to the lyrics Michfliehen alle Freuden (All joys escape me),
and was used by Beethoven himself as a theme for his Six La Molinara Variations
in G in 1795.

No. 10 features the aria In mia mano elfin
tu sei from Bellini’s Norma (Act II, scene X, rehearsal
number 45), premiered in 1831. It’s a perfect example of a Bellini
melody requiring the most delicate balance between beautiful singing
and dramatic tension. Parish Alvars introduces the whole theme of the
ultimate confrontation between Norma and her lover Pollione, ending
with a dramatic fermata on the dominant... At which point he writes
out a cadenza, which leads us straight back to the tune, this time
presented at the upper octave, and embellished as if improvising on
the spot. Thus the harp lesson mutates into a study in composition!

In regards to grace notes and turns, they must
be thought of very freely. The typesetting of the turns in No.12 follows
the original edition closely. Should they be measured or not? It is recommended
to start with the easiest and slowest way of executing them and to experiment
with different ways of spreading them out, since we are imitating singers
who are declaiming their phrases with the most artful emotion or bravura.